The Environment Agency has finally responded to Westbury residents who say the smell coming from Hills Waste Solutions recovery centre is making their lives a misery.

Following months of complaints from people who have protested that the reek from the centre was making them feel physically sick, the agency said it was still investigating the foul smell.

But it pointed out that it could not guarantee that the odour would be completely removed.

In a statement, the agency said its officers were conducting tests and it had asked the centre, on the Northacre Industrial Estate, to reduce its workload.

The agency said: “We are receiving fewer reports of odour than we were in the summer.

"This could be due to a number of factors, including the cooler weather.

“However, we have maintained our odour surveys and have had officers out recently.

"They reported significantly less odour away from the site than they had previously experienced.

"We believe this is due to the bio-filters starting to work more efficiently.

"We will have officers out again in the future.

“In the meantime, we have asked Hills to reduce its waste inputs by 25 per cent while they carry out further investigations into the efficacy of the biofilters.

“They will be undertaking further tests this week and we hope to have the results of those soon.

"We will not allow waste inputs to increase until such time that we are satisfied that odour has been reduced to pre-June levels.

“Given we had only a handful of complaints about the site in the six years previous to the issues starting, there should be no reason why unacceptable odours are experienced off-site if the biofilters are working efficiently.

“As with all industrial sites, we can never say there will be no odour off-site, but our aim is to minimise the impact on local communities.”

In September residents told the Environment Agency that the “Westbury whiff” was so bad that it had ruined their summer.

Westbury town councillor Janet Parker was so outraged by the smell that she went on TV to publicise the problem.

She told the BBC: “Every time you step outside or open a window it just feels like you’re being assaulted by this vile odour that is coming into your home. It’s like a wave of stench.”

Cllr Parker told the Times that although the stench was less intense, it has not gone away.

“It’s not as bad as it was and that’s probably because of the weather, but it is still ongoing and it is still causing quite a lot of misery for people,” she said.

“We have had meetings with the company and another one is planned for next month. We have to keep them on their toes. But we are still encouraging residents to complain to the Environment Agency.”